Beautiful, strong, confident and bi-racial, Meghan Markle
seems the perfect choice for Prince Harry. She has been described as ‘big-hearted’ and a ‘great
humanitarian,’ because of her focus on charitable causes. However, her half-sister
called the 36-year old American ‘pushy’
and her half-brother penned a letter telling Prince Harry that he is making a ‘big
mistake’. Who is the real Meghan Markle?
Born in 1981, she is the daughter of a lighting director and
a yoga instructor. Her father was white and her mother was black. Meghan grew up
in the comfortable suburb The Valley in
LA and went to an exclusive Catholic girl’s school. She experienced racism and
sexism during her childhood and teenage years. For example, people often
thought that her mother was the nanny, and she left a question on a form about
her ethnicity blank. She didn’t want to tick ‘Caucasian’ in case she upset her
mother.
Although only black sets and white sets of Barbie doll
families were sold, her father combined figures from a set to make Meghan her
own ‘Heart’ family. Meghan remembered
this later and wrote about what a comforting gesture it was. She was very close
to her father. Although, she has now been criticised for not helping him with money.
The intelligent girl complained
to First Lady Hillary Clinton about a sexist ad at only 11. The advertisement stated that ‘women’ all
over America were fighting greasy pots and pans. Meghan managed to change the
word ‘women’ to ‘people!’ After this, she joined the National Organization for
Women.
During her high-school years, Meghan became interested in
charity work and helped out at soup \kitchens. She continued this during her
studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. There she joined the
sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma which concentrated on philanthropy. She helped the
Glass Slipper Project which provided prom dresses for under-privileged girls.
She also did a 30-hour charity dance for a cancer project.
Meghan got several parts after her studies but couldn’t find
one which was right for her. She found her dream role in Suits as a bright and
idealistic para-legal. She also started a lifestyle brand, The Tig, which was
extremely popular.
She married producer Trevor Engelson in 2011 and they got
divorced two years later. There isn’t much information about this marriage.
They obviously decided that it wouldn’t work out very quickly.
Meghan’s charity work became even more impressive while she
acted in Suits. She became a Women’s Advocate and Global Ambassador to the UN
and travelled to India and Rwanda for the organisation. She helped the Clean
Water campaign in Rwanda and the UN thanked her for assisting the provision of
clean water to almost 60,000 Rwandans.
Prince Harry met Meghan on a blind date at London’s Soho
House in the middle 2016 and fell for her quickly. Soon afterwards, he took her
to Botswana where they camped out under the stars. The Queen was supportive, even though Meghan
was a divorced American, according to U.S. Weekly as soon as December. Rumours
soon began that the couple were living together. By November of 2017 the
couple, obviously very much in love, were engaged.
Some of the people who will be happiest to see the couple
marry are the children who Meghan helped in Rwanda. 10-year old Chanceline said
to UN Uk that: “I was so happy to meet Meghan when she came to our school. I
really like her. I wish that she can have many children and a happy wedding’.
Samantha said that she hoped that she will enjoy her beautiful wedding with the
Prince and a happy future together’.